Horslips

At one point in the mid-'70s, Horslips seemed poised to become Ireland's answer to Steeleye Span. But they also had a shot at being the next Jethro Tull (only a better hard rock outfit), or maybe Genesis, or even Yes in their folkier moments. Those events never quite happened, but Horslips released half-a-dozen superb albums along the way, becoming Ireland's most acclaimed folk-rock and progressive band.

Horslips were founded in Dublin in 1970 as a quintet playing a brand of folk-based rock music whose only parallel could be found in the early work of Fairport Convention, who themselves had only been together for two or three years. Where Fairport freely mixed British and American folk and folk-rock traditions, however, Horslips drew on their distinctly Irish roots, and were capable of playing straight folk material when the moment called for it, but weren't afraid to turn it up loud and hard, in the best art rock style, on the right songs.

Depending on the moment, Barry Devlin (bass, vocals), John Fean (lead guitar, vocals), Eamonn Carr (drums, vocals), Charles O'Connor (violin, mandolin, vocals), and Jim Lockhart (flute, tin whistle, keyboards, vocals) sounded a bit like either Genesis or Jethro Tull, and actually had stronger original material to draw from than Tull did. Fean, in particular, was equally good at playing soft folk-like passages and loud, ringing electric runs on his instrument, and could easily have held his own in a guitar duel with Martin Barre or Steve Howe, among others. But where Tull (after their first album) became exclusively a vehicle for Ian Anderson's wildman flute antics and complex, pretentious, satiric, and scatological lyrical conceits, Horslips, until their final years, had ample room for each player to show what he did best, and no single member dominated the group. They spent three years gigging constantly in Dublin, tightening and honing their sound to a fine point, and formed their own record company, OATS, to produce and release their debut album, Happy to Meet, Sorry to Part, in 1973.

That first album, with its mixture of traditional Irish folk instruments and a hard art rock sound recalling the Genesis of Nursery Cryme and Foxtrot, outsold the work of many established acts in Ireland, and led to a distribution deal with RCA and tours of England and Continental Europe. With the release of their second album, The Tain -- a concept album built on Irish mythological sources -- in 1973, Horslips began finding an audience on the other side of the Atlantic as well. Their third album, Dancehall Sweethearts (1974), brought them to the United States and Canada on tour, and they followed this up with The Unfortunate Cup of Tea (1975). Neither of these albums was quite as strong as the first two, and both revealed more of a modern rock sound in their music and songwriting. The bandmembers returned to Ireland to take stock of who and what they were and what kind of music they would do.

Horslips returned to their roots with a Christmas album entitled To Drive the Cold Winter Away, released in 1976, which was recorded entirely on acoustic instruments. This record put them back in the center of the folk-rock boom of the '70s, compared favorably with such English electric folk acts as Steeleye Span (with whom they toured) and Fairport Convention. Additionally, as an Irish electric folk-rock band, even though they weren't overtly political, Horslips hooked into the audience of younger Irish-Americans during a period of wide, new ethnic consciousness-raising brought about by the renewed strife in Northern Ireland. They were no more than a cult phenomenon in the U.S., never remotely as popular as the Chieftains (who had a decade's head start and a ton of soundtrack appearances to promote their work), even with Atlantic Records releasing their mid-'70s albums, but it was a bigger cult than they would have had in the late '60s.

In England and Ireland, however, Horslips were a highly successful act, sufficiently popular to justify cutting a double-live album that perfectly captured their repertoire of this period, if not their sound. The group's next studio record, The Book of Invasions (1977), subtitled "A Celtic Symphony," was, like The Tain, inspired by Irish mythology, this time the story of Tuatha De Danann's conquest of ancient pre-Christian Ireland. Released by Dick James' DJM label (which also picked up their earlier albums in England, as Atlantic had in America), this album marked their only entry on the British charts at number 39, and also found a dedicated audience in progressive and folk-rock circles in America. It was an enviable string of releases, but one that they couldn't sustain. Their next album, Aliens, dealing with the lot of the Irish immigrants in America, was less inventive and exciting, and elicited far less enthusiasm from fans and critics. The odds-and-sods collection Tracks from the Vaults, released in Ireland, was a matter of marking time.

The Man Who Built America marked a major change in Horslips, who were now pretty much in the control of Barry Devlin and Jim Lockhart -- Carr and Fean, with their more folk-oriented approach to music, took a back seat to a more mainstream rock sound. Two additional guitarists, Gus Guest and Declan Sinnott, turned up on the album, which sounded more American and less like Irish folk-based material than any of their prior works -- the title track sounds more like John Cougar Mellencamp, or perhaps even Bruce Springsteen (with Lockhart's flute replacing Clarence Clemons' sax, and some gratuitous swirling keyboards) than the work of the group responsible for "The High Reel."

By this time, they were trying to compete in a wholly different idiom and arena, and there wasn't much left of the original Horslips. Short Stories/Tall Tales (1980) was the last of Horslips' original albums, and was followed by one more concert record culled from their final days, the hard-rocking Belfast Gigs. Carr and Fean later worked together in an R&B-based band called Zen Alligator before reuniting with Charles O'Connor in a folk outfit called Host, and Fean has recorded with Nikki Sudden and Simon Carmody. Meanwhile, Horslips were the object of two retrospective collections released in Ireland and England. Fortunately for Horslips, they retained ownership of their music through the OATS label, and this helped facilitate reissues on compact disc. ~ Bruce Eder

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Comments

These guys remind me of a poor jethroTull I could be wrong but if horslips had made an. Aqualungish lp or songs from the wood maybe we'll they would have gotten the media attention they very much deserved so time moves on horslips you were second to nobody and I'm not Irish and a huuuuuuuuuuug Tull fan ever since i caught aqualung in Vietnam in71 not Irish Italian thanks horslips for the great music.

Whoever wrote this has an axe to grind with Jethro Tull and has no idea what he's talking about. Horslips isn't compared to Tull or Genesis by anyone - anywhere but here. Horslips is great, unique and I enjoyed seeing them live and listening to their albums.

5 months ago

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gpcrilly

I remember the great concerts these guys put on in the Nuremore hotel in Carrickmacross back in the 70's.Brilliant...!!!!!!!

Only 30 entries in 7 years? I thought more people would be listening to this great group. Yes, the author has a Tull problem, and some details incorrect, like Horslips adding another guitarist in the later years? Gus Guest was on a track before their first album! Anyway, great group with some great hard rock guitar- yes, he's correct about that!

Great band...particularly liked The Man Who Built America...ok, it was an AOR sound, but a least done well. After hearing the Tain, went out and bought the Mabinogion---ooops, wrong culture...but I was young then. Saw them on St. Patrick's Day, amazingly enough, in Milwaukee, c. 1978--truth be told, they were a little disappointing--rocked much harder on vinyl. I till pull out Happy to Meet now and then, too.

yeah let's leave the comparisons to the wayside.....Horselips have their own story to tell.

2 years ago

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markwromkee

Your bio writers should stick to being clowns. A better rock n' roll band than Jethro Tull? Answer to steeleye span? A fantastic band without a doubt but comparisons with the span are like comparing Obama and an honest man...Horslips is night and day 100 times the band that the span ever dreamed of being!!!

Hi Gentle Giant. I saw them there on the Man who Buit America Tour opening for Head East. The best show though was when they headlined down at Communcity College of the Finger Lakes in the early part of the Man Tour. Opening with Lonlieness and doing a super job with King of the Fairies. Buy Live at the 02 and Live with Belfast orchestra. Two great discs!

Saw Horslips in the winter of 77/78 on their Book of Invasions tour at the Auditorium Theater in Rochester, NY, USA. They opened for Styx who were on their Grand Illusion tour. Horslips blew Styx out of the water. The audience was so less moved by Styx' performance that the band stopped after each tune and tapped their feet until the crowd cheered loud enough for their liking. I wanted to leave the show three songs into Styx, but thought my date wanted to stay. After the show, she told me she

The Tain is fantastic...what an awesome album! I could listen to "Faster Than The Hound" all day I think...

8 years ago

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rwellsinbc

"Aliens" is an under-rated album, which suffers mostly from less-than-stellar production values. The song writing is compelling and focused, and the band plays with great energy and passion. It's a terrific album.

8 years ago

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wargame999

If you like this band, have a listen to Celtic Soul - a Jacksonville FL band that has yet to get the exposure they deserve. You can sample their songs on their web page. Hopefully Pandora will pick them up in the future.

8 years ago

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vanoho

The guy who wrote this sure has a problem with Tull. This band wishes they had half the talent of Tull, not that the song they played was bad, but come on, be real.........